Whooping Crane

Restoration Update

These cute, little chicks are a sign of success for the
whooping crane reintroduction efforts taking place
in Wisconsin. Here are the first wild-hatched chicks
at Necedah National Wildlife Refuge when they were
a few days old. Photo: Richard Urbanek, USFWS.

The winter of 2007/08 was the seventh successful ultralight-led migration. Since the beginning of the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership in 1999, there have been many accomplishments along the road to restoration. Of the 17 birds that followed the ultralights south for migration in the fall of 2007, two were from eggs that were laid in the wild and rescued from nests that were about to fail. One egg was laid at the Necedha National Wildlife Refuge and one was laid in Florida. In spring 2006, a major event occurred when the first whooping crane egges were laid in the wild in Wisconsin in more than 100 years! One chick survived and has already completed two migrations south and back to Wisconsin.

The wild-hatched chicks at 9 weeks old.
Photo: Richard Urbanek, USFWS.

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